Bodybuilding DVD

The Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, Aviation Auditorium, on the corner of Aviation Blvd, and Manhattan Beach Blvd, was the site for the 1997 IFBB Iron Man Pro Invitational. This was the 8th year for this event, and by far, the largest collection of athletes to battle it out for the championship. Twenty three athletes, from all over the world, were here in the first IFBB pro show of the year. During pre-judging, there were four parts. The first part introduced all of the athletes, half of them lining up first, and second half a couple of minutes later. The second part consisted of the first call outs, in which the judges compared athletes to each other, three at a time. The third part consisted of each athlete come on stage and go through a routine, consisting of 7 poses. There were, in order, Front Double Bicep, Front Lat Spread, Side Chest, Rear Double Bicep, Rear Lat Spread, Side Tricep, and Abdominals & Thighs. The fourth part brought out the final call outs of the pre-judging. This is where you could really see the differences between the top stars, and judge on who will win based on symmetry, muscle, and overall appearance. Afterwards, the pre-judging came to an end, and backstage, the athletes were being tested for diuretics, clenbuterol and cocaine, which took over an hour and a half to get all of the athletes done, as paperwork and accuracy had to be done. Porter Cottrell was disqualified for failure to appear at award presentation, which he would of placed tenth, while Jerry Rodger was disqualified for failure to take the drug test, According to Porter, he did not hear to judge announced his name and went to the dressing room to change. Four athletes were disqualified for testing positive in the drug test. They were Alq Gurley, B.J. Johns, Gunter Schlierkamp, and Max Shamaya. It was a hard fought battle, and the only major audience clashing with the judges was that Aaron Baker should of placed third instead of fourth over Ronnie Coleman. The biggest suspense of the night was the final moment between Lee Priest and Flex Wheeler. Would Wheeler win the third Ironman in a row or lose to a 217 pound 5 foot 3 inch, completely muscular Lee Priest? We now know the answer!

RESULTS 1 Flex Wheeler USA 2 Lee Priest Australia 3 Ronnie Coleman USA 4 Aaron Baker USA 5 Paul Dillett USA 6 Patrick Lynn USA 7 Eddie Robinson USA 8 Henderson Thorne Canada 9 Bruce Patterson Canada 10 Ian Harrison England 11 Roland Kickinger Austria 12 Jeffrey Long USA 13 Fauzi Hanst Caribbean 14 Alessandro Komadina Italy 15 J.P. Pulkkinen Finland 16 Mohamed El Makkawy Egypt 16 Joe Spinello Canada Dis-6th Alq Gurley USA Dis-12th Gunter Schlierkamp Germany Dis-16 Max Shamaya Israel Dis-16 B.J. Johns New Zealand Dis Jerry Rodgers USA Dis Porter Cottrell USA